Title: Subliminal advertising in shooter games: recognition effects of textual and pictorial brand logos

Authors: Koos C.M. Nuijten; Anouk De Regt; Licia Calvi; Allerd L. Peeters

Addresses: Academy for Digital Entertainment, NHTV Breda University of Applied Sciences, Mgr. Hopmansstraat 1, P.O. Box 3917, 4800 DX Breda, The Netherlands ' Academy for Digital Entertainment, NHTV Breda University of Applied Sciences, Mgr. Hopmansstraat 1, P.O. Box 3917, 4800 DX Breda, The Netherlands ' Academy for Digital Entertainment, NHTV Breda University of Applied Sciences, Mgr. Hopmansstraat 1, P.O. Box 3917, 4800 DX Breda, The Netherlands ' Academy for Digital Entertainment, NHTV Breda University of Applied Sciences, Mgr. Hopmansstraat 1, P.O. Box 3917, 4800 DX Breda, The Netherlands

Abstract: An array of studies has shown that games can be suitable for marketing communication - but that not all game genres can be expected to be equally successful in generating advertising effects. Since the game task in shooter games requests players to strictly focus on objects that can pose a threat, that game genre seems especially problematic for in-game advertising. Subliminal communication can theoretically be expected to overcome (part) of that problem. Therefore, our experimental study (N = 143) focuses on marketing communication effects of subliminally presented brand logos. We aim to find out (i) whether subliminal marketing communication causes recognition effects and (ii) whether pictorial logos differ from textual logos in the size of the effect they generate. This way we can shine a light on the message processing mechanisms that are foundational to subliminal message effects. The results of our study show that subliminally presented brand logos do have a communicative potential: the recognition effects are significant. Besides, our study indicates that pictorial logos have a greater propensity to subliminally communicate than textual logos.

Keywords: subliminal advertising; shooter games; effect study; experiment; brand logos; marketing communications; brand recognition; pictorial logos; textual logos.

DOI: 10.1504/IJART.2013.050686

International Journal of Arts and Technology, 2013 Vol.6 No.1, pp.5 - 21

Published online: 01 Dec 2012 *

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